Readings - The Cherokee Removal A Brief History with Documents (intro.; chaps. 1-2) 100 pp.
Clark (chap. 5) 42 pp
Points of Entry:
Thomas Jefferson and Early U.S. Scientific Inquiry:
Lewis and Clark Expedition and Early Expansion:
Early U.S. Immigration:
19th Century Children:
Sunday School Books:
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail:
Questions for Discussion:
How do you think citizenship was defined in the early American Republic? Was it becoming more democratic or exclusive?
How did U.S. identity change during this period?
What are the legacies of the Trail of Tears?
How does looking at children's literature and Sunday School books (see links above) give us a window into U.S. identity?
I am really enjoying the cherokee removal and the conversations we have been having in class discussion about the changing identity of the colonists. Just like at whittier college when you ask someone where they are from, when you asked the people in the 1800's what they considered a citizen to be you would get a different answer almost every time. The southern colonists were struggling to perserve slavery at the same time as trying to expand more westward into cherokee lands.If you asked these southern colonists they would say neither blacks or natives were to be considered citizens. When you asked northern colonists they may or may not have felt the same way. To go even further into this line of thought, the north and south white settlers themselves were struggling with a new independant identity from what they considered themselves before. All of a sudden they are their own country. There is no homeland because they have separated themselves from their previous British backgrounds in a way. They were becoming more of their own nation and country. Starting to feel more American than British and this was a feeling that wasn't going away now that it has come.
ReplyDeleteI think that the defenition of a citizen during the early American Republic was becoming more and more exclusive. The vote was being extended to more white men but that was only being done to explicitely exclude minorities from the governmental proceedings. More white men were being given the right to vote, so blacks, newly arrived immigrants, and natives couldn't. The change in voting privileges also brought with it changes in US identity. People now viewed themselves as rightful Americans that deserved to be treated as first class citizens because they were entitle to righst and privileges others were not. US citizens were superior to slaves, natives, and immigrants. Everything indicated that they were superior to the rest and so they had the right to take land away from the Natives. This way of thinking lead to the Trail of Tears (the removal of Natives from their rightly-owned lands). Because of this proclamation most Natives to this day live on reservations, to avoid that discrimination that was once promulgated agaisnt them.
ReplyDelete-The early American Republic identified everyone in the nation as citizens in the sense that they were all represented. Slaves for example counted towards taxation and representation, although they counted for 3/5s of a free person. The republic did not extend citizenship to everyone in that slave was enforced and almost always imposed on so-called "inferior" people. Also, voting rights were limited to white, male, 21 year old landowners who were in good standing with their church. This early Republic still proved to be more democratic and inclusive in terms of representation, since British Imperial ruled delegating the majority of power to embedded elites. The "citizens" under the British and American regimes were relatively the same, only the American Republic delegated more power to those same citizens.
ReplyDelete-During this period, the nation partially left its former identity as a nation unified under a common religion to one unified under racial and cultural factors. It was during this time that divisions were erected along the basis of race instead of faith. People began to identify Indians and African-Americans as inferior, not because they were non-Christian, but because they were racially inferior. Also, the Dutch, Irish, Scottish, and German immigrants began to homogenize into a common American culture, most closely identified with the English culture.
-The Trail of Tears was a watershed in the sense that it paved the way for further expansion into the Western territories and further decimation of indigenous people. The tone for Indian-American relations was set, and would see the nation through acquisition of all lands until the west coast was reached.
-The Sunday school books from that period show the intent of instilling western, Christian ideals into children. The typical American is devout, civilized and hardy. While being adventurous, he does not descend to the level of Native or African Americans. Women and men are strictly separated into spheres of domesticity, attributing each gender with a set of duties, privileges and mannerisms.
American citizenship was defined by a very specific criterion. However it was taking steps to becoming more democratic. Early Americans regarded citizens white men. Defining citizen as someone who was able to vote. However white women were considered citizens, although they were not allowed to vote. Rather they were considered citizens because most were the wives or daughters of citizens. The fact that now all white men could vote not just the land owning ones, gave more of a voice to the middle and lower classes, making the system slightly more democratic. However America still denied citizenship to slaves and other races beyond white. Being a citizen was at this point still very exclusive however looking at the tiny step it took, in allowing all white men, makes it start becoming more democratic.
ReplyDeleteThe US identity started to change a lot during this period. This was because of the differing opinions emerging at the time. It was the start of political parties and the political divide that was starting to take place.
The country appeared to united in many things, however it was divided on many important issues pressing the government.
The legacy that the Trail of Tears left behind, is the divide that it created with in the country and the discontent it created with the Natives and the government. Indian Removal was a huge issue of the time, that was both rejected and supported by many Americans. It was one of the reasons that a political divide was being created at the time. The issue then became partisan which is an issue that still lives on today. Besides that, the Natives, had to live with the small land given to them for generations now. It has created a dislike of the government among the Natives. What the government did was harsh and in many ways wrong, so it shows future generations what not to do.
Children's books were a strategy to start teaching children at a young age, what was expected of them in America. It was a way to teach them how to be a good Christian by instilling them with morals. It also was a strong supported of the family system and "proper" gender roles. This was a system of trying to shape, what America deemed, as the perfect citizens.
Being an American citizen meant being a white male. Thats when you really had the most possible options and you had all of the opportunities to gain benefits. If you were a white female on the other hand were still citizens but they could not do things like vote or anything like that. They did not get the full benefits. All white men could vote though even if your in the middle class or if your poor you could still vote. This gave power to the lower and middle classes because they were on equal ground with everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThis also helped to change the identity of the American Culture quite a bit. This was because their were different political parties, different opinions and different views so this completly flipped American identity on its head.
The Trails of Tears helped to fuel t so he Indian Removal project. Some people didn't like this idea but some people really liked it created a divided among Americans. This issue is still going on today. Which shows how much weight this issue has with Americans.
Children's books those days told them what they were to expect when they grew up. What it meant to be a good American and how to have a family. Childrens books were like instruction manuels on how to create the perfect citizens.
Citizenship during this time was only given to whites you can say and that is what is considered a citizen. It was becoming more exclusive, for the fact that only white men were given the rights to vote with their citizenship and minorities did not get it. So for this reason the white men who were granted citizenship were seen as Americans and were seen as superior to slaves, natives, and even immigrants from Europe. So for this reason the Trail of Tears happened, which was the removal of natives from their homeland. Looking at children books makes U.S. identity seem like you are only an American if u care for your country and defend your colors
ReplyDeleteIn the early Republic the definition of citizenship was becoming more concretely defined. As more and more groups in society were gaining rights (all white men, somewhat women, etc.) less and less peoples were losing their right to citizenship. Living in the United States equated to citizenship only for the people of the white persuasion. Native Americans, blacks, or any other peoples of a different color were not considered a citizen. During this time citizenship became more exclusive.
ReplyDeleteBefore this period many believed that a person's culture shaped their identity. Because of this there were many programs to "civilize" natives by introducing American culture to them. The hope was to have them identify with this new culture, which would make them an American. This concept however did not work. This was because around the same time the idea of race was create. Identity was not longer based on culture it was based only on race. Now a native could never be an American because they could not be able to change their race.
During this time the biggest issue that divided the country was the that of Indian removal. The solution for Congress and Jackson was the Trail of Tears, which was the forced march of the Cherokee peoples westward. During this march thousands of natives were killed. This was Cherokee's holocaust. Due to the Trail of Tears Native and American relations were forever changed.
Children's literature serve as a tool to see a simplistic version of the issues of a culture. These books take complex ideas and simplify them so that a child can comprehend them. Looking at children's literature from this time period it is clear the idea of what makes an American was being enforced to the children. They also stressed the racial divide.
In the early American Republic citizenship was defined as being a white male landowner. Developments changed this definition to not having to be a landowner.
ReplyDeleteThe developments made it more democratic in terms of representation.
U.S. identity during this period shifted from a religiously united nation to a racially unified nation. Religious issues were in a sense replaced by racial tensions.
The legacies of the Trail of Tears are that it allowed for further westward expansion and thus also further annihilation of native peoples.
Looking at the Sunday School Books gives us a window into U.S. identity by subtly showing settlers’ intentions and how they bestowed them upon little children. The Sunday School Books idealize a strong, civilized American and teach typical gender roles of that time period.
I believe citizenship in America was becoming more and more open with increased immigration from Europe and an opening up of the political process to the average American instead of having the balance of power being controlled by an elite few.
ReplyDeleteI believe the American identity changed in the way that America was slowly becoming assured of its self and its future dominance on the world stage such as taking on the Barbary pirates a ocean's length across from its home waters and defeating this enemy.
I believe the Trail of Tears was a terrible tragedy in our history that we as Americans have to live with. The legacy it left was the policy that was now about to become the Indian policy of leaving less and less land for our Native American brethern.
Looking at these early American children and Sunday school books give us a glimpse of what Americans during this time period believed and what were the basic of a good education such as the three R's what we used to call it Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and a thorough and solid grounding in Christian-Judeo Values